Empire of Shadows

Chapter 301: We Are All Good People [Named Chapter Update: Jialadiya + 2]

The Federation also has counterfeit money, and quite a lot of it.

Because people have discovered that making money is never as fast as printing money. Apart from the huge risks involved in printing money, there doesn't seem to be any other downside.

Life is about choosing between risk and enjoyment!

Lance originally planned to use fake money to muddle through, but to his surprise, fake money wasn't easy to buy. And nowadays, most of the fake money is in denominations of one or two dollars.

Because if you print higher denominations, five, ten, or twenty dollars, people will be more careful. After all, large bills often represent a person's income for a week or two.

They will definitely treat it with caution, and this caution will eventually make it easy to expose the fake money.

After all, the reason why fake money is called "fake money" is because it is not "real" enough. As long as fake money is not real enough, people can always find some flaws.

Bringing small-denomination fake money to talk to them... this behavior looks stupid no matter how you look at it, and you might not even be able to get through the door.

So Lance decided to use real money, but only a portion, not all of it.

Only the top two layers, about thirty to forty thousand dollars, were real money. The rest were all "two-sided real".

The address that the president of Balz Investment Bank gave Lance through Wally was a golf course north of Goldport City. Many wealthy people from the Bay Area patronize it. For ordinary people, it's hard to see how good its business is.

Most of the time, its entrance doesn't even have the scene that people expect, filled with luxury cars, with social celebrities and political figures frequently coming and going.

Almost everyone who passes by the golf course only finds it deserted.

But strangely, even though it's so deserted, it has persisted for so many years.

This is the difference in perception.

For ordinary people, they think that a business place must be lively and bustling, crowded with people, and filled with high-end cars that represent status.

But what they don't know is that special social venues like golf courses are not places for "instant consumption".

All the fees are already in hand when the membership period ends and is renewed.

Whether the guests come or not, they have to pay a one-time annual fee, ranging from two thousand to tens of thousands of dollars.

And it can't accommodate many guests at once, which requires advance reservations.

So even though it's always deserted, there's never a risk of it going bankrupt.

A simple iron gate completely separates the world of ordinary people from the upper class.

There are thresholds and classes everywhere in this society, yet they are miraculously closely integrated.

Lance came with Madol. Actually, there were several other cars, just following from a distance.

Everyone was dressed very fashionably today. Lance was wearing the latest golf attire and sunglasses, making him look very professional, but in reality, he wasn't very good at it.

Under the guidance of the staff, Lance met Peman, the current president of Balz Investment Bank.

He was swinging his club under the awning, and golf balls were hit far away after the crisp sound of the strike.

Then the caddie would place the next ball, waiting for him to hit it, and would show a surprised expression at the appropriate time to provide emotional value.

After Lance arrived, he didn't immediately talk to Lance, but continued to swing his club seriously. His secretary stood between them, "Mr. President needs a moment, you can sit for a while first."

If Lance didn't know that these people were scammers, it would be easy to be fooled by them.

But now is not the time to expose him. He smiled and nodded slightly, sitting down beside him.

The staff brought good coffee, at least the kind that costs a few dollars a cup, and all kinds of exquisite snacks.

After waiting for about ten minutes, President Peman finally handed the club to the caddie and took the towel from the secretary, wiping the sweat from his face.

He smiled and walked towards Lance. Lance stood up in time.

"You must be Mr. White?"

"Wally told me about you. I heard you're planning to invest some more funds?"

The two men didn't let go of each other's hands. Lance tilted his head slightly, and Madol immediately opened a large travel bag he was carrying, revealing neatly stacked banknotes.

Lance let go of his hand, walked over, and casually picked up two stacks and put them in President Peman's hand, "I like making friends the most. A little gift."

President Peman's fingers gently slid along the edge of the banknotes. The rustling sound and feel of the paper money made him realize that these were real money.

He now had to play the role of a proud investment bank president, not a greedy scammer. He casually threw the money back into the travel bag, "I invited you, how can I let you give me a gift?"

He became more enthusiastic and then asked Lance to sit down.

"How much are you planning to invest?"

Lance tilted his mouth, "Five hundred thousand."

Peman nodded slightly, "I thought it would be more."

The meaning in his words was obviously a deliberate provocation, perhaps he wanted to show Lance that this little money was nothing to him, but it was also possible that he wanted to see if Lance would impulsively say that he would invest a million.

But unfortunately, Lance didn't get his wish, "This is extra money that doesn't affect my business. If I increase it further, my business might encounter some trouble."

Hearing that there was still money to be squeezed out, the smile on Peman's face grew even wider, "Can your business bring you a net profit of fifteen percent per month?"

Lance seemed to think about it seriously for a while and shook his head, "Maybe yes, maybe no, it depends on whether there are orders."

"So, Mr. White, I suggest you can temporarily stop your business and pay more attention to our products."

"A net profit of fifteen percent per month is definitely a crazy business, because it has no upper limit!"

"You may invest 100,000 in your business and earn a net profit of 20,000 to 30,000 per month."

"But it won't turn the net profit into 200,000 to 300,000 just because you invested a million."

"But here with us, it's stable and reliable."

Lance looked a little tempted, "I need to think about it again. This is not a decision I can make alone."

He paused and began to talk about some things about Earl Balz, "I learned something about Earl Balz from the company. He is a remarkable person. Can I meet the current Earl Balz?"

President Peman was still thinking about how to squeeze more money out of this "smart egg" in front of him. He didn't expect the other party to take the initiative to offer him an opportunity, "Of course Earl Balz will meet and talk with our important clients, but you know, such a big figure can't possibly spend all his time and energy on everyone."

"Mr. White, I don't want to say this, but it's also a fact that people are different."

"Some people's value is lower, some people's value is higher. Earl Balz prefers to talk to those with high value, at least you can have a common language and way of thinking."

"But it's difficult for us to tell whether a person has enough value to meet Earl Balz, so we have a simple and crude method."

"If you invest one million, I can arrange for you to meet Earl Balz!"

Lance didn't seem to care about the number at all. He just asked, "Is he in the Federation now?"

President Peman said affirmatively, "Yes, he is in the Federation!"

His secretary looked at Lance with a smile the whole time. Another fool was hooked!

He didn't understand why there were so many fools, and why these fools were so rich?

He didn't quite understand whether God was too biased towards these people, so that they didn't understand such simple tricks?

Of course, he wouldn't show it. He now needed to play the role of a secretary well.

They talked for a long time, far exceeding the time President Peman said. In the end, Lance left the money here.

President Peman seemed to have prepared in advance. He immediately asked the secretary to take out an investment contract.

While Lance was checking the contract, he also checked the money Lance brought. The fragrance emitted when the banknotes were fanned made him intoxicated!

Seeing that Lance still didn't sign, he was afraid that Lance would go back on his word and say he wanted to take the money away. He quickly explained, "If you need a lawyer, we can provide a lawyer here…"

Lance waved his hand, took out a pen, and signed his name, Rice White.

"No need, I trust you."

President Peman was overjoyed when he heard this. He quickly signed his name and gave a copy to Lance, "Keep this, it can prove that you are our investment client. I will give you the highest level of treatment."

Saying that the time was almost up, Lance proposed to leave, but at this moment, Alvin ran over in a driver's uniform, looking apologetic, "Sir, I don't know why, the car won't start!"

Lance was furious when he heard this, "I have an important meeting later, and you're telling me now that the car won't start?"

Alvin kept apologizing. President Peman on the side seemed to have thought of something and said generously, "I'll give you a ride. I'm leaving too."

Where was Peman, who was still thinking about Lance's other 500,000, afraid of any trouble?

"It's okay, I have nothing to do this afternoon. It's just right to give you a ride!"

He gave the secretary a look, and the latter hurriedly said, "I'll have the driver start the car."

Watching the driver jog away, Lance looked somewhat embarrassed. "That's too much trouble for you, Mr. Peyman. You're a good man!"

President Peyman couldn't help but laugh upon hearing Lance's assessment of him. "You're a good man too, Mr. White!"

Lance readily agreed, "We're both good men!"

President Peyman nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes, we're both good men!"